In 2010, ArcelorMittal Temirtau, the Kazakhstan-based subsidiary of steel giant ArcelorMittal, foresees with cautious optimism stable operations and plans to increase its steel output by 20 percent year on year to 3.6 million mt amid improving market conditions.
Accordingly, ArcelorMittal Temirtau's forecast is based on the output recorded in the first two months of the current year. "The production in the first two months of 2010 is approximately 20 percent higher than in the corresponding period of 2009. In the steel market we see signs of stabilization, we are selling much better than at the end of 2008 and in 2009," ArcelorMittal Temirtau chief executive Frank Pannier said at a press conference in Astana. "Selling prices also increased significantly, but they are still at much lower levels. Comparing the sales prices of the first two months of 2010, we see that they are almost at the level of 2007. As a result, the overall profitability of ArcelorMittal in Kazakhstan is not as it was, for example, in the first and second halves of 2008," Mr. Pannier added.